Poll: How do you rate Pink Floyd's "Atom Heart Mother" album?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Johnny Reb, Jul 15, 2017.

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  1. Johnny Reb

    Johnny Reb Résident du forum Thread Starter

    Location:
    MA
    Moooooo!

    The rules for this series: this poll is designed for people familiar with the album in question and with at least some familiarity with some of their other catalog (for comparison purposes). If the poll doesn't interest you, please kindly move on to a thread that does. Please simply consider how YOU would rate the album in question, in comparison with the rest of the Floyd's discography! And as always, a shout-out to member mrjinks for creating all the groundwork for this series.

    So, how do YOU rate this album?

    Album history: "Atom Heart Mother is the fifth studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd. It was released by Harvest on 2 October 1970 in the UK, and by Capitol on 10 October 1970 in the US.[2] It was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London, England, and was the band's first album to reach number 1 in the UK, while it reached number 55 in the US, eventually going gold there.[3] A remastered CD was released in 1994 in the UK and the United States, and again in 2011. Ron Geesin, who had already influenced and collaborated with Roger Waters, contributed to the title track and received a then-rare outside songwriting credit.

    The cover was designed by Hipgnosis, and was the first one to not feature the band's name on the cover, or contain any photographs of the band anywhere. This was a trend that would continue on subsequent covers throughout the 1970s and beyond.

    Although it was commercially successful on release, the band, particularly Waters and David Gilmour, have expressed several negative opinions of the album in more recent years.[4][5] Nevertheless, it remained popular enough for Gilmour to perform the title track with Geesin in 2008."


    Tracklist:
    1. Atom Heart Mother 23:44
    2. If 4:31
    3. Summer '68 5:29
    4. Fat Old Sun 5:22
    5. Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast 13:00

    [​IMG]


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    A Saucerful Of Secrets. Currently 307 people have voted, with an average of 3.76.
    Ummagumma. Currently 392 people have voted, with an average of 3.08.
    Obscured by Clouds. Currently 387 people have voted, with an average of 3.88.
    Wish You Were Here. Currently 642 people have voted, with an average of 4.78.
    The Wall. Currently 799 people have voted, with an average of 3.99.
    The Final Cut. Currently 519 people have voted, with an average of 3.07.
    The Division Bell. Currently 417 people have voted, with an average of 3.27.
    Pulse. Currently 279 people have voted, with an average of 3.33.
    The Endless River. Currently 387 people have voted, with an average of 2.54.
     
  2. Daniel Plainview

    Daniel Plainview God's Lonely Man

    One of their best! Pleasing from beginning to end! An album cover that makes me feel good all over! Brass! I love it!
     
  3. Zoot Marimba

    Zoot Marimba And I’m The Critic Of The Group

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
    Pretty good, not their best but worth a listen
     
    Rooster_Ties likes this.
  4. andrewskyDE

    andrewskyDE Island Owner

    Location:
    Europe
    It is one of their best works IMO. To me it's their 'breakfast/morning mood' album, every song fits so well to that.^^
    Probably 'If' is the weakest track on it. But overall, it's one my favorite Floyd albums. Can't understand why David (and obviously also Roger) hates it.

    [Edit:] I have two vinyl copies of the album.
    One is the US (Capitol/Harvest) with superb stereo sound, and the other one (german pressing, EMI Electrola) has Side 2 containing the quad mix while the title track/Side 1 has the normal stereo sound. Not sure how rare this is.
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2017
  5. aphexj

    aphexj Sound mind & body

    It is good but not great. The quad mix is fun and I'm glad it was included with the Devi/ation set.
     
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  6. Denim Chicken

    Denim Chicken Dayman, fighter of the Nightman

    Location:
    Bakersfield, CA
    Essential!! Wonderful album where they really start to find their own ground without Syd. I may have to give this a spin tonight.
     
  7. Platterpus

    Platterpus Senior Member

    This is the band at it's peak Avant-garde period starting with "More" and ending with this album since Meddle sees the band turning to more straightforward progressive rock as well as OBC.
     
  8. Colocally

    Colocally One Of The New Wave Boys

    Location:
    Surrey BC.
    When I first heard it, around 1989, I thought it was a mixed bag (like Meddle), I thought with both albums the suite side was amazing, but the other side was kind of uneven. Over the years this has changed though, and I have grown to love the other songs too. Just this year I finally got AHM on vinyl, and finally enjoyed Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast, which was the elusive track for me, I could never really click with it before.
     
  9. agentalbert

    agentalbert Senior Member

    Location:
    San Antonio, TX
    I think this is the most boring Floyd album of the whole catalog. Not a single memorable track (to me).
     
    PDK, APH, BryanA-HTX and 1 other person like this.
  10. Dr. Funk

    Dr. Funk Vintage Dust

    Location:
    Fort Worth TX
    It's good stuff. One of those albums that still sounds fresh to me, even though It's 47 years old (only a year younger than myself).
     
  11. 93curr

    93curr Senior Member

    First of all, AHM has the BEST album cover of all time. I loved that cover in the racks for years as a kid before I saved up enough allowance money to actually buy a copy. It's everything every album cover should aspire to be.

    Now that that's out of the way. the album itself doesn't quite measure up, although it's still pretty darn great. The title track is amazing, although a but too long for my tastes. They could have cut a good ten minutes out of it and it would only have made it better. Three three folk songs are pleasant enough, but not really playing to the band's strengths. Did they really want to appeal to Cat Stevens's audience? 'Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast' (again, as a misinformed kid, I just assumed it was Alan Parsons. foolish me.) is the kind of thing I should have liked, but I just didn't. Musically, it just doesn't quite work and the constant muttering narration is a little condescending.

    I give an A to the first twenty-five minutes, a B to the next ten minutes and a C to the last ten minutes. Overall, not as good as 'Ummagumma' or 'Meddle' but better than 'Obscured By Clouds' or 'More.'
     
  12. daca

    daca Currently on Double Secret Probation

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    Not a fan of this album. I know a lot of people on this board like/love it, but I will have to agree with Waters' and Gilmour's 'revised' opinion, not good.

    @Johnny Reb , you are 0.22 short on the "troll" adjusted average of Wish You Were Here.
     
  13. CirculationUnderflow

    CirculationUnderflow Well-Known Member

    Location:
    florida
    AHM always seemed like a warm up for the real opus MEDDLE. Its like everything they did wrong on AHM .. they did right on Meddle
     
  14. Instant Dharma

    Instant Dharma Dude/man

    Location:
    CoCoCo, Ca
    Medium Range Floyd. That being said I love the absolute imperfection of it.
     
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  15. Tristero

    Tristero In possession of the future tense

    Location:
    MI
    I was torn on this one. I really like the suite on side one, but side two is a lot more patchy for me. They seem to go for the old solo showcase concept that they already did on Ummagumma, with the individual members doing their own songs to a large extent, but I prefer hearing them play as a full band. A song like "Fat Old Sun" really came alive more in the BBC session versions. I do quite like Rick's track, but I can take or leave "If". "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" has some nice moments, but I'm not often in the mood for it. I kept going back and forth on ranking here, as I'm a pretty tough grader, but I ended up going with "worth recommending", an important transitional album for the band.
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2017
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  16. CowboyBill

    CowboyBill Forum Resident

    Location:
    Utah
    It's interesting, but prolly my least favorite PF album.
     
  17. SurrealCereal

    SurrealCereal Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    I think the shorter songs are really good, but the other two just have their moments. "Atom Heart Mother" can be really interesting, and "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" gets really great in the moments when it's actually music, but overall the album has a lot of boring sections. I voted worth recommending.
     
  18. A pretty solid effort. Some sections of the suite drag on too much and lose my interest. I like each song on the udder side -even Alan's pysco breakfast. The recording quality is first rate.
     
  19. Johnny Reb

    Johnny Reb Résident du forum Thread Starter

    Location:
    MA
    :laugh: This is true!
     
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  20. Thatfabulousalien

    Thatfabulousalien Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Space
  21. m20gull

    m20gull Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kent
    Absolutely love this album in its entirety and have done for over 40 years. From the cover, though the suite, and on in to dreamy, folky side 2 and the quirky finale. I have a 1970s UK vinyl and 2 CDs (1994 and 2011) plus a whole heap of versions from the Early Years and a few other versions we must not mention.

    I don't really understand the lack of love from fans and the band. It is such a mark of the progress from Ummagumma to Meddle and, to me, shows them in a particularly creative period and confirms the flow of their ideas. It made it to number 1 in the UK and made it gold in the US so somebody must have liked it!
     
  22. Sammy Waslow

    Sammy Waslow Just watching the show

    Location:
    Ireland
    Essential. The title track is one of my favourite pieces of music outright. Summer '68 is a gem. The Fat Old Sun solo is awesome.
     
  23. Zach Johnson

    Zach Johnson Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario
    Clearly one of their best for me. I rank it right up with Animals as one of my favourite Floyd albums. I love everything on it, except for Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast, which is still nice in parts. If and Fat Old Sun are super underrated. The latter might be my favourite Floyd song.
     
  24. Alofter

    Alofter Nowhere Man

    Location:
    Marshall Michigan
    It's really interesting to view and reflect on my own musical preferences as time wears on. I must admit that the first time I heard this album other than the tune "If", my thoughts were somewhere along the lines of where's Pink Floyd? Mind you this was thirty years and some change ago. This was clearly not DSOTM or The Wall or even my newest fascination at the time PATGOD. Still, this is the grower album. I find it a stronger "flow wise" album over Meddle and SFOS.
    The suite imo comes off much better from the live versions that are out there. I much prefer Rick and Davids vocal plays back and forth. Some of the moments are really sublime and special, goosebumps worthy. I would pick to hear this track sans orchestra choir any day ( and I have no issues with classical compositions as a whole).
    The band has always been good at recycling ideas, I assume the importance of AHM is it 1) exploration of long suites like SFOS 2) outside sound effects being incorporated into music or theme 3) style and playing is really developing to lead up to the classic run.
    Fat Old Sun is beautiful and first track to feature Davids lap steel playing?(IIR)
    APBrekkie - again the middle section is so visual sounding with that swelling lap steel and acoustic rhythm going, I adore it, however the point that the sound effects are too distracting throughout the listen is valid. Obviously it would be difficult to bridge those segments together without them, so in the end - it is what it is.
    So in reflection this is an album that the songs that really didn't catch my attention early on I absolutely love and play quite often. Funny how that happens.
    Certainly not their best ever but a solid for sure.
     
    Front 242 Addict likes this.
  25. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    I think it's easily in the bottom tier of their output. I never listen to it.
     
    Tim 2, BryanA-HTX and Shaddam IV like this.
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